EXCLUSIVE: Erika Kirk To Be Trump’s Special Guest At State Of The Union

WASHINGTON—Erika Kirk will attend the State of the Union on Tuesday evening as a special guest of President Donald Trump, The Daily Wire can first report.

Kirk will be present in the audience as the president delivers an address that will mention both Erika Kirk and her late husband, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in September while speaking at Utah Valley University.

Kirk’s assassination rocked the world, prompting what many recognized as a spiritual awakening throughout the United States. During his remarks, Trump will highlight the “tremendous revival of faith, Christianity, and belief in God in our country” since Kirk’s death, a White House official shared.

The president will also affirm that America is “one nation under God,” and, referencing the wave of political violence that has shocked Americans over the last few years, Trump will call on all members of Congress to “firmly reject political violence against our fellow citizens.”

Charlie Kirk left behind his wife and two young children, a daughter and a son. Erika Kirk has since taken over Turning Point USA, as her husband wished, urging Americans across the nation to live as her husband encouraged and to draw closer to Jesus Christ.

During a massive memorial service for Charlie Kirk in September, top members of the Trump administration went to Arizona to eulogize their departed friend and to stand with his family. Both the president and Vice President JD Vance spoke at the service, where Trump called Erika Kirk’s response to the tragedy both “beautiful” and “strong.”

Erika Kirk, as she spoke about her husband to the estimated 100,000 attendees, emotionally forgave her husband’s killer.

“That young man, that young man,” she said. “On the cross, our savior said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ That man, that young man, I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know, from the Gospel, is love and always love.”

A month later, Trump had Erika Kirk at the White House again to posthumously award Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Since her husband’s death she has continued to represent TPUSA, her husband, and their political and religious values on the world stage, despite aggressive smear campaigns from online commentators. She has been repeatedly distinguished by the Trump administration, including by the president, Vice President JD Vance, and Second Lady Usha Vance.

“President Trump has been a source of strength for Erika, constantly checking in with her over the last five months, and Erika is incredibly honored to be invited by the president to attend tonight’s State of the Union,” Turning Point USA spokesman Matt Shupe told The Daily Wire. “Erika has been thrust into an enormously important role by fate and tragedy and because Charlie chose her should the horrible moment ever come, and she has risen to the occasion with grace, dignity, and a lot of hard work.”

As evidence of Erika Kirk’s hard work, Shupe pointed to the explosive growth that TPUSA has experienced in the aftermath of the assassination, to TPUSA’s “All-American Halftime show” that garnered over 50 million viewers, and the “most ambitious spring and summer tour season in TPUSA’s history” ahead of them.

“Her leadership has been incredible to witness,” he said. “No one should ever be asked to do what she has done under the circumstances, but she is an inspiration to the whole TPUSA family, the nation, and to young people everywhere.”

President Donald Trump posthumously awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Charlie Kirk as he presents the Medal to his wife Erika Kirk. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

A gunman identified by authorities as Tyler Robinson has been charged with shooting Kirk in the neck and killing him on September 10, 2025, just as Kirk was answering questions on transgender shooters. Robinson lived with his “transgender partner,” a man named Lance Twiggs, who is attempting to transition to a transgender female.

Trump’s State of the Union address will focus on ending the political violence that has plagued the country in recent years.

That attack came only weeks after trans-identifying shooter Robin Westman killed Catholic schoolchildren in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during a church shooting. And that attack came just two years after another in which a trans-identifying killer targeted Christian school children in Nashville.

Earlier this month, another transgender-identifying attacker in Canada opened fire on a rural school in British Columbia, killing nine and injuring dozens, and only last week, yet another man who identifies as a woman opened fire at a high school hockey game in Rhode Island.

These instances of transgender violence do not include the politically motivated attacks on the president himself.

Ahead of the 2024 election season, a gunman attempted to kill President Trump as he spoke in Butler, Pennsylvania, narrowly missing the president’s head and grazing his ear with a bullet. Soon afterward, authorities arrested another gunman in Florida attempting to kill the president at his golf course. And on Sunday, the Secret Service shot and killed a man who entered Mar-a-Lago carrying a gun after breaking through the security perimeter.

“In the middle of the night while most Americans were asleep, the United States Secret Service acted quickly and decisively to neutralize a crazy person, armed with a gun and a gas canister, who intruded President Trump’s home,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Sunday.

“Federal law enforcement are working 24/7 to keep our country safe and protect all Americans,” she added, hitting at Democrats for shutting down the Department of Homeland Security. “It’s shameful and reckless that Democrats have chosen to shut down their Department.”

On Monday, the president addressed the Mar-A-Lago shooting, saying at an event at the White House: “I don’t know how long I’ll be around. Got a lot of people gunning for me.”

“You know, if you read about all these crazy shooters, they don’t go after non-consequential presidents,” he added jokingly, referring to former presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. “So maybe I want to be a little less consequential? Can we hold it back a little bit, please? Can this be a normal presidency for a little while?”